The Vancouver Table Hockey Club is back in action this Saturday, March 28th at 1pm to mark the 2015 season opener! It's the dawn of a new age as the Club looks to gather new players throughout the upcoming regular season to make the VTHC Cup playoffs, in November, the biggest VTHC Cup playoff battle in the history of the Club.

VTHC Vice President Dominic Froome tells me players only need to play one 2015 VTHC date to qualify for the VTHC Cup playoffs. Says Froome: "While the VTHC player numbers have dwindled, lately, we hope to see some or all of our outgoing players return to play at least one or two club dates in 2015. The ITHF rewards the most ranking points for Club playoffs so we're going to work with this in order to continue to build our ITHF ranking point weight locally. We'll also be travelling to Edmonton, in September, to play the Edmonton Centennial Tournament, to add more ITHF points value to our region in 2015. The more of us VTHCers, in Edmonton, the better!"

The VTHC Cup is going to be a tougher trophy to win, in 2015, with players like William Henne, Paul Lobley and Rick Thompson all playing regularly through the winter. Recent pre season battles would confirm that the playing field has really levelled out since last November. Defending VTHC Cup champion Dominic Froome has offered up many tips to help these guys become better Stiga players too. Says Froome: "It can only help us improve, in ITHF rankings, as a Club. If we improve our talent level, travel to regional tournaments and find new players then we'll only succeed in promoting organized Stiga Table Hockey in the Canadian Pacific North West and possibly building the needed local player base to one day host an 'ITHF North American Tour' event."

The 2015 VTHC season opener is this Saturday, March 28th at 1pm. Entry fees are $50 for the entire season. (Pro-rated less $5 after each club date is played.) Please email VTHC President Paul Lobley at: paul_lobley@hotmail.com to become a member of The Vancouver Table Hockey Club in 2015. It's a tremendous gaming experience for a fraction of the price to see the Canucks play, live, at Roger's Arena! (8 regular season dates plus the VTHC Cup Playoffs in November!) Stay tuned for the 2015 VTHC Opening Day Johnny Canuck report this weekend table hockey fans!

Dominc Froome defeated William Henne 4 games to 3 to win Gold in the 2015 VTHC opener. It was a battle, all the way, as Froome outcored Henne 21-15, through the seven game series, to take the early VTHC Medal Points lead in 2015. The parity, amongst all four opening day players, apparent, through the day of Stiga battles. William Henne exuding the most immense passion to win gold medals and finally hoist the VTHC Cup, this November, in 2015. (A trophy that's eluded the hardest practising VTHC player, thus far, of 2015.)

Rick Thompson won his first ever VTHC Medal today, defeating Paul Lobley in the Bronze Medal Series: 2 games to 0. Thompson has all sorts of goal scoring ability and has already begun to utilize ways to tighten up defensively.

VTHC President Paul Lobley had a better day than the round robin numbers might indicate. He took Froome to two overtime playoff games, in today's Gold Semi Finals playoffs, before being swept 3 games to 0. He also kept his round robin goals against average below 3. (2.92) The group plays tough and close games and are well positioned to really raise the skill level bar high this season.

Froome scored 4 center move goals in today's 12 game round robin amassing a 0.33 center move goals per game average early on. His number of attempts decreased due to the fact that these other guys have really figured out how to defend center move attempts. VTHC center move skills have really been developed by both William Henne and Paul Lobley during the off season. The way this season plays out is unpredictable over the long haul. Dominic Froome won all six overtimes, he played on the day, to find the day's golden medal. An indication of how close most of the games, played in the 2015 VTHC, have become.

VTHC Milestones On This Day:
-Dominic Froome scored his 900th all time VTHC medal points playoff goal.
-William Henne scored his 700th all time VTHC Stiga regular season goal.
-Rick Thompson scored his 500th all time VTHC regular season goal.

The Vancouver Table Hockey Club is back in action on April 25th, 2015.

The Vancouver Table Hockey Club is saddened to learn of the passing of William Henne. He tragically died, in hospital, of a respiratory illness on Monday, April 20th.

William was a passionate table hockey player who was determined to win the VTHC Cup. He continually practised and improved after struggling to win his fair share of games early in his VTHC endeavours. William offered VTHCers an exciting approach to the game of table hockey. He will be missed and the April 25th VTHC club date has been cancelled to respect the memory of William "The Hurricane" Henne. Below are William Henne's all time VTHC stats.

All Time VTHC Regular Season Stats:
(GP-W-L-OTL/T-.PCT-GF-GA-SO-VTHC CUPS)
William Henne 442-151-260-31-.342-1056-1597-15-0

All Time VTHC Stiga Regular Season Stats:
(GP-W-L-OTL/T-.PCT-GF-GA-SO-VTHC CUPS)
William Henne 302-85-190-27-.281-707-1197-7-0

The only time that I met William was when he started playing in 2006. Even as a beginner, he played with a lot of passion.
My condolences to his family and friends._________________John Medema
TTTHC & LTHL

The only time that I met William was when he started playing in 2006. Even as a beginner, he played with a lot of passion.
My condolences to his family and friends.

The VTHC players appreciates your thoughts John. They've decided to play this Saturday, April 25th as William would wish. April 25th is William's birthday so the date will be a celebration of William Henne's table hockey spirit and determination to win and improve.

Rumour has it the VTHC Stan Smyl Award, for most improved player of the year, is going to be renamed the VTHC William Henne Award because William was the ultimate symbol of table hockey improvement. He was close to winning the VTHC Cup.

In March he took defending VTHC Cup Champion Dominic Froome to seven games in the 2015 inaugural Gold Medal Series. He also won a gold medal in June of last season. He'll always be remembered as a table hockey battle for any and all.

The Vancouver Table Hockey Club toasted, with drinks, the late Wiliam Henne before the games began today. This day, in VTHC history, would have been William Henne's 60th birthday if he didn't pass away from pneumonia, last Monday April 20th. The players decided that William would've wanted them to play, today, so the time was right to resume play of the 2015 VTHC season sooner rather than later.

VTHC President Paul Lobley and VTHC Vice President Dominic Froome have decided to rename the VTHC Stan Smyl Award the VTHC William Henne Award. The award that recognizes the most improved VTHC player of the year. A fitting tribute to the legacy of William Henne's tenure in the VTHC. William exuded the very meaning of this award.

Dominic Froome would go undefeated, in the round robin, losing one game all day in recording his second gold medal victory of the season. Froome won 3 of his round robin games in overtime. One OT game against each of the other three players on the day. Froome is now 6 for 6 in round robin overtime games this season. Including playoffs Froome has won 10 of 10 overtimes on the year. An indication that this club is more competitive than it may first appear. Froome also scored six more center move goals to bring his 2015 round robin season total to 10 after 24 games. A 0.42 CMGPGAV thus far.

Froome defeated Paul Lobley 4 games to 1, in a well played and tight gold medal series, with 4 of the 5 games decided by only one goal. Paul Lobley has really worked on his game. Inspired, today, by the determination exuded by William Henne over the years. Lobley won his first ever VTHC silver medal today. He's really improved and learned from opponents since his rookie season of 2012.

Chris Varila made his 2015 VTHC season debut with a very near Bronze Medal victory. Varila, leading game three 2-1 of a best of three series, saw Rick Thompson tie the deciding game with just under a minute to go before stealing the game with 1.1 seconds remaining. Thompson scoring the winner with a RW velodrome goal that caught the far side of the net just inside the post. Varila showed that he can score goals, consistently, with LW to C high pass and shoot plays. Thompson took the Bronze, beating Varila 2 games to 1 in this series.

VTHC Milestones On This Day:
-Dominic Froome scored his 2800th all time VTHC regular season goal and scored his 2300th all time VTHC Stiga regular season goal.
-Paul Lobley scored his 600th all time VTHC regular season goal and scored his 300th all time VTHC medal points playoffs goal.
-Chris Varila scored his 200th all time VTHC regular season goal.
-Rick Thompson scored his 100th all time VTHC medal points playoffs goal.

The Vancouver Table Hockey Club is back in action on Saturday, May 23rd at 1pm.

Dominic Froome (33-3-0) defeated Rick Thompson (13-18-5): 4 games to 0 in the VTHC May 2015 Gold Medal series. A series that saw Rick Thompson play for gold for the first time ever. A series that Thompson would be frustrated by and only able to take the positives from in hind sight. Thompson upset Paul Lobley (17-16-3) in the Semi Finals: 3 games to 1 to find his way to the gold medal series. Lobley, who's been practising three nights a week for a couple of months, was disappointed at peaking before the days games were completed. The ability to stay sharp over the long haul is key to tournament success and Lobley will be focusing on this issue, in the coming weeks, leading up to Edmonton in September. Lobley went a solid 8-4-0, in the days round robin, before running into the offensively explosive Thompson in their Gold Semi Finals series.

Froome went a solid 11-1-0, in the days round robin, surrendering a meager 10 goals against in those 12 games to post a 0.83 GAPG with 5 shutouts. Outstanding defence that held up to all except for Lobley, who handed Froome his only round robin loss on the day: 2-1 in the ninth round of games played. Froome scored 19 center move goals to bring his season total to 29 center move goals from 36 round robin games played. A 0.81 CMGPGAV on the year.

The 2015 VTHC Cup Playoffs were enjoyed by all five players who could make it out to make VTHC Cup history. And a top ranked player from Sweden, would show the VTHCers how far a player can go on the Stiga game with practise. Fredric Axelsson would win the 2015 VTHC Cup and become the second Swedish player to ever win and hoist the VTHC's top prize. Fredric was ITHF ranked 173rd in the world, heading into the day's battles and he displayed why by winning 8 out of 8 playoff games on the day. Fredric amassed 53 goals for and gave up 14 goals against.

Dominic Froome finished in second place as he was outscored 25-13 in the VTHC Cup Finals series by Axelsson. Froome actually had a 3-1 lead, in game three with only 1:30 remaining, but Axelsson's deadly accurate shooting seemed able to score a goal anytime he needed it in coming back with four unanswered goals late in this game. Video of game three can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHp82Lb47fU

Froome also came back, from 3-0 down, in game two, to get within one goal before Axelsson would polish off another late goal to win that game 4-2. Axelsson had a number of clever ways to score goals including some nifty short side shots from his right winger and an excellent high attack from both left and right wing center feeds to find net with deadly accuracy and puck speed.

Paul Lobley took third place after a slow start saw him dropped to the third place playoffs due to a Quarter Finals loss to Steve Crawford who went in the exact opposite direction of Lobley throughout the day. Rick Thompson, the most improved VTHC player in 2015, played in the third place finals series against Lobley before being dropped 2 games to 0. Lobley saved face with 3 shutouts, in his final four playoff games, going 4-0 and giving up a meager 2 goals against in those four games played. The VTHC salutes VHC President Paul Lobley for another outstanding effort to offer west coast players the chance to play organized Stiga table hockey.